STORY EXCERPT

Baylee crashed into a chair in the lounge and tripped over it. He quickly came to his feet prepared to deal with the demon.

Honestly, he was prepared to run and fight another day, because he knew just how powerful this demon was.

“What are you trying to do, kill me?” Baylee demanded angrily.

“I need your help to disable this,” Kirkyn told him.

“What is it?” Baylee asked carefully. He put a hand on his wrist where the bracelet was.

The gris-gris should keep his mind safe for the demon’s telepathy, but he wasn’t relying on much other than his ability to move out of harm’s way as fast as possible if need be.

“It’s called a coilstone. It’s from Darth. One of your workmen put it here. The intention is to ensure the gnomes they send in to deal with sprites can do so easily.”

“Gnomes?” he asked. “I don’t understand. Why would gnomes help demons?”

“They’re from Darth. Rather than being fey, they’re a demonic form of fairy.”

Baylee blinked, not sure he understood. He didn’t know there were any other kinds of gnomes.  

“Come on, we need to disconnect these before it’s too late. You saw how they repelled you.”

Baylee moved slowly, his gut telling him Kirkyn wouldn’t hurt him. His heart raced, even leapt at the chance of being so close to Kirkyn again while his head told him to make tracks and not look back.

When he reached Kirkyn, Kirkyn took Baylee’s hand. “Don’t use any magick yet, okay?”

“Okay.” His voice came out husky, but Kirkyn didn’t even seem to notice. He was more focused on the crystal in his left hand.

“Put your hand beneath mine and let your energy flow through you into me. The crystal shouldn’t break. If it doesn’t, we’ll be able to use it to deactivate the others.”

Baylee forgot about running and focused his energy on the gem in Kirkyn’s big hand. The stone flared red and then red-orange before turning purple.

Kirkyn laughed, triumph clear in his voice. “We have a few more.”

Once those stones were purple, Kirkyn put them in his pocket and picked up the black one on the counter. He walked around the room with it, making three passes before Baylee felt energy snap into place.

It wasn’t dark or light, but it was powerful with a hint of waves and rocks.

“What kind of stone is that?”

“It’s a demon stone called skhorlk. Its main uses are for disrupting energy from the demon realms.”

“What are you doing with it? Where did you get it?” Baylee wanted to know as much as he could in case he needed to use anything Kirkyn said for his own protection against Kirkyn.

“It’s just one of the tools of my job, Baylee,” he murmured as he closed the distance between them. “You’ll get to know that as liaison for your people.”

“What? I’m not. That’s an elder’s job.”

“Your friend Blade decided you’d be good at it. I’m assuming your lack of an ego would be of more help than his own,” Kirkyn told him. “Let’s go see how the front is holding. Tomorrow, we can discuss long-term options for defeating Bancoo, but first I’ll need to know what’s so special about this place that he decided to go after it rather than his original target.”

Baylee gave him a puzzled look but allowed Kirkyn to take his elbow and lead him from the room. His touch made Baylee’s skin hot and his body ache in remembered passion.

Kirkyn was a great lover with more stamina than Baylee knew what to do with. He’d also been kind and sweet, until Baylee learned what he was and tried to leave him.

Hell, he hadn’t believed in demons before that night he’d seen Kirkyn take the form of a tall, blue-gray creature with electric blue eyes, who shot electricity.

He shuddered, and Kirkyn gave him a look. “Are you okay?” His tone was gentle, almost caring.

“Just—the guy I went out with today, is he a demon?”

“One of Darth’s most prized warriors,” Kirkyn told him. “His job is to infiltrate and turn you, so you’ll help him when he’s ready to kill your family. Did you kiss? Have sex with him?”

 Baylee coughed. “No,” he said in an irritated tone. “Why? Are you jealous?”

“Is there a reason I should be, Bay?” he asked in a soft tone that was a stroke over Baylee’s skin.

“It’s Baylee, and I—we just met,” he snapped. “Why would you say that?”

“That’s the point I was making,” Kirkyn said, his lips twitching in amusement. “I can tell you’re affected by me, and I would love nothing more than to get to know you, too. However, I suspect that will only be on a superficial level as we work together.”

“That’s why,” Baylee agreed quickly, and Kirkyn laughed, sending chills down Baylee’s spine.

ADULT EXCERPT

There that jerk was. He couldn’t believe it. He was standing there talking to some other man like they’d never meant a thing to each other. How dare he?

Keep walking. You don’t need him in your life. He’s not even human.

So, why do I want him? Why can’t I stop thinking about him?

Baylee squeezed his eyes closed for a split-second, and when he opened them again he was striding across the bar to where Kirkyn was laughing at something that little blond was saying.

That bitch was practically all over his man. He came to a stop behind the blond, and Kirkyn looked over his head. The blond turned.

“What do you want?” the blond asked coldly. “You had your chance.”

Baylee shoved him aside. “He’s my man, so step aside, yo  bimbo,” he snapped. “And you, stay away from that cheap trash.” He slapped Kirkyn, who winced and rubbed his jaw. “I want to leave, now, Kirkyn.”

“Right,” Kirkyn said, turning to the bar where his friend was getting drinks. “B, can you get this?” He gestured to the pool table.

“Got it, buddy. Just take care of your honey.”

A round of laughter followed them out, and Baylee snuck a look at Kirkyn to find his lips twitching in humor, as well. He wanted to slap that smirk off his face but decided there was a time and a place for that, and now wasn’t it.

“Didn’t you drive here?” Kirkyn asked as they made their way out to the night-dark parking lot of the Tentacle Bar.

“How could you come here?” Baylee demanded. “This dive is nothing but a cesspool of bimbos waiting to throw themselves at the right man.”

Kirkyn shot him a look. “What’s that say about you, baby?”

Baylee did slap him then. “I come here because it’s one of the few gay bars in town,” he snapped. “I can normally hang out with my friends in peace until you.”

Kirkyn chuckled. “You’re laying this off on me?” he demanded once they reached his pick-up truck. “I looked your way, but you’re the one who came on to me.”

“Oh, please. All I did was smile at you, and if that constitutes a come on, then guilty as charged.”

“What’s your problem anyway? You dumped me, and I still don’t know why. Care to share?”

Baylee stared at him, the desire snaking through him, already a heated coal in his blood just waiting for an outlet. And that part of him that was so strange and sensual around this man wanted to play, to taste again the passion that it had drowned in.

“I’ll take you home, and we’ll call it good. How’s that?” Kirkyn reached around him to unlock the door of his truck, and Baylee whimpered when their bodies touched.

He couldn’t help himself. Baylee glided his hands down Kirkyn’s hips to his thighs and around to cup his ass. He squeezed, and a soft sound between a growl and groan was his reward. He liked that odd noise Kirkyn made. It got his dick hard and his thoughts all tangled in sex.

“You know this is not a good idea,” Kirkyn grumbled next to his ear. “You can’t have it over and then touch me like you want me.”

“I never said I didn’t want you,” Baylee said and kissed Kirkyn’s throat. “I love your scent, and I love your hands on me, Kirkyn. No man does to me what you do.” With his last word, Baylee reached up and jerked Kirkyn’s head down for a kiss.

That alien part of him he’d learned was called a water sprite had a voracious appetite for Kirkyn that the human half of Baylee struggled to control. It scared him as much as the odd sounds Kirkyn made and the way his eyes glowed blue when he was in the throes of passion.

“We can’t do this here,” Kirkyn said breathlessly.

“Why not?” He blew over Kirkyn’s skin, and Kirkyn groaned.

“I can’t think when you do that,” he growled. “You make my skin so sensitive to your touch.”

“Then, feed the hunger, right here, right now.” Baylee had never had sex in a public place, but he doubted anyone would really notice.

They were on the dimmer side of the club with woods behind them, and no one came here to hang around outside. If anyone was out here, they were in the backseat of their car doing exactly what he wanted to do.

“God, baby, you’re so damned impossible to resist even when you want to try something crazy,” Kirkyn said with a nervous laugh.

“What’s crazy?” Baylee murmured and tugged Kirkyn’s shirt from his pants and shoved his hands beneath. The man’s skin texture was slightly rougher than most men’s but hairless, a genetic anomaly, he supposed.

Kirkyn dipped his head and kissed Baylee slow and deep, tasting him like it would be his last kiss. Baylee despised the very thought of Kirkyn with another man, but he wasn’t going to beg him not to go to one.

No. He’d just give him a reason not to.

He reached down and unfastened Kirkyn’s belt and flicked the button from its mooring before dragging the zipper down. Then, Baylee reached inside the boxer briefs to grip the thick cock inside.

The firm flesh was rigid and hot, and pre-cum already dampened the head. He broke the kiss, his mind on tasting and pleasing.

Kirkyn’s heavy-lidded gaze held his as Baylee pushed Kirkyn’s shirt up and brushed kisses over his chest before curling his tongue around a small nipple. It was just a fraction smaller than other men’s, but Kirkyn’s rough moan told the story of increased sensitivity.

Baylee pinched the other nipple as he scraped his teeth over flesh close to his mouth. Then, he closed his teeth over the tiny bud, and Kirkyn let out that curious growl-groan sound. It was a prompt that had Baylee pinching the other peak harder.

Kirkyn seemed to love an edge of pain with his sex, and Baylee had no problems with it, either.

“Baby,” Kirkyn said roughly. “Go down on me. Nothing but the head.”

Baylee made him wait for it, turning his attention to the nipple he was now plucking at with his fingers. He laved the abraded flesh before sucking it, and Kirkyn pushed his fingers into the hair Baylee wore barely shoulder length.

“Honey, you’re taking too long. My damned dick is going to explode.”

Baylee smiled, lips against Kirkyn’s skin as he trailed kisses lower. Sinking to his knees on the smooth blacktop lot, Baylee glided his tongue down the hard ridge before licking back up around the crown.

Then, he closed his mouth over the head and sucked.